White House inhabited by Israeli settlers: PLO official

Hanan Ashrawi, an executive committee member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)

A senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) has denounced the pro-Israeli policy adopted by the administration of US President Donald Trump, saying the White House is now inhabited by Israeli settlers.

Hanan Ashrawi, a PLO executive committee member, said on Saturday that Israel’s far-right stance dominates the US government.

“We used to say there were settlers in the Israeli coalition borne of the far right that detests Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims. But today we say there are settlers inside the White House,” she said.

Trump’s administration “has adopted the extreme Israeli position to the right of (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu and which supports the settlements,” she added.

The remarks came amid reports that a delegation of Palestinian Authority officials will visit Washington later this month, in preparation for a meeting between Trump and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

“The main goal here is to reach understandings that would make the president’s visit a success and that it will come out with positive results that would serve the Palestinian cause,” Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said earlier this month.

Trump and Abbas spoke over the phone for the first time in March during which the latter was invited to Washington.

In another development last month, Jason Greenblatt, Trump's special envoy for the Middle East, met with Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

During the meeting, the Palestinian president stressed that the Palestinian strategic choice was to achieve the so-called two-state solution. The comments came after Washington signaled that it would no longer insist on the two-state solution as the only option to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (R) meets with Jason Greenblatt, US President Donald Trump's special envoy for the Middle East, at his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah on March 14, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

Tel Aviv has accelerated its land grab and settlement construction activities in the occupied Palestinian lands after Trump took office earlier this year.

Israeli forces have demolished over 48,000 Palestinian homes and buildings since the 1967 occupation of the Palestinian lands, according to the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions.